Contrast this with 1 Thess. 4:17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18Therefore comfort one another with these words.
and John 14:3“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
These verses speak of Christ returning and taking us up with Him to heaven. They may just have a general meaning to the post-trib position, but they have a specific meaning to the pre-trib position. Stop saying there are no verses showing the Lord back in heaven.
and John 14:3“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
These verses speak of Christ returning and taking us up with Him to heaven. They may just have a general meaning to the post-trib position, but they have a specific meaning to the pre-trib position. Stop saying there are no verses showing the Lord back in heaven.
Now I want you to read on in the same passage. Just because man but chapters and verses in Paul's letter doesn't mean Paul did. Paul wrote a letter, just like you or I would without chapters and verses. Look closely at the subject, it is the Day of the Lord AKA the Day the Lord returns. I am going to cut and paste the applicable portion of 1 Thes 4 and 5 together back in letter form without the verse numbers. I want you to look closely as Paul gives the timing here, just as he does in 2 Thes 2.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
This all goes together. Read it as such. You are told details about when the Lord returns and how we are gathered. Paul calls it, "THE DAY OF THE LORD." Paul is not speaking of an earlier return in 1 Thes 4:16-17, he is speaking of the ONLY return of the Lord. If you notice we are to comfort one another in the first paragraph and in the last paragraph. The audience hasn't changed. Paul isn't speaking to two groups. Paul isn't saying to comfort those who will be Raptured and comfort those who have to wait through the Tribulation. Paul is saying to comfort ONE ANOTHER as we are doing.
Look at the inclusive words in blue. Paul includes himself in this group. We are not to let this day overtake us as a thief. Let us not sleep, let us watch... Paul also discusses "THEM", the unsaved. Sudden destruction comes upon them when??? The Day of the Lord. Destructions doesn't come on us, because we are now with him.